The Expedition Returns
Expedition
Fourteen months after leaving the capital, the expedition returns -- at half strength.
To many, their return is a sign that the lands of Maka-Tho are as dangerous as the mists that protected them. To the more clever and those that paid attention, they saw something different.
They saw that half of the expedition had returned from a land that nobody in recorded history had returned from.
Maka-Tho was open, and who knows what power lay within those lands?
Ager returned at the head of what remained of the scouting expedition a changed man.
After seeing what lay in Maka-Tho his head was full of possiblity. Ideas on new settlements, ancient technology, and long-burried numenera.
Ideas on empires.
Ruins And Empty Lands
Ager returned to the Queen with tales of vast rolling hills, of a
Great Hand and a
Strange Apparition. Of a
Verdant Wood with trees so close together the scouts were unable to venture within. He told the Queen of a vast
Pit with a stairway circling down through the earth and madness both. He shared the story of their trek through the
City of the Dead, a place of strange ghosts and hidden secrets.
When asked if he thought the mists would return, he answered the queen with a simple declaration.
"If the mists were to return, they would have done so long since. No, the mists will not return in our lifetimes, I think."
Ager also told the Queen about some of the dangers that lay within Maka-Tho. Many of the abhumans that troubled the towns and villages of Calda could be found there, as well as new ones unknown to Ager or the soldiers he travelled with. There were even a few small tribes of humans, reduced to savage warrior cults after their experiences in the mists.
The last thing he told the Queen during his debriefing was of what the expedition had found. One of the first things they had done was find a site to build a fort. The site they found was a small mesa that stood higher than any hill nearby. Slowly over the next month the company worked to bring wood from any nearby trees or woods to build their fort.
Once built, the company went to work exploring the hills, as well as the grasslands to the south. The scouts travelled south, searching for a way through the Kashin Baya. They found a number of ruins, or empty villages, or strange numenera. They even found a strange dead forest of mysts and confusion -- unable to find a way through, the scouts named the forest the
Dead Wall.
A Ship
"You speak of all these mysterious places, and wonderous numenera as if you only knew of them through reports and not first-hand knowledge, Ager."
The Sable Queen's voice was like honey over steelglass; a seductive sweetness that covered a core harder than iron.
Turning from the fire in the planning room, Ager looked to the maps on the table before looking to the Queen. A slender yet tall figure, her lithe form seemed at first glance to be that of a dancer. A glance at the hand holding the
Ebony Scepter revealed the quiet strength of a warrior.
Ager flashed his rougish smile at the Queen. He imagined that beneath the veil that covered her face he saw the hint of a smile.
"Hah, no hiding things from you, Queen. You've seen to the heart of it. No, I did not go out into the field, for something more interesting kept me at the fort."
"Upon that mesa we found two separate ruins. One of them seemed to be almost nothing more than a structure fallen to ruin and disrepair. Besides a few shins and cyphers, not much was found there. I spent some time combing through those ruins, but did not find much. Beyond a strange plate of metal set into the ground that may have been a hatch or door of some kind, the ruins did not contain much. Unfortunately, none of the nanos or wrights that came with us were able to determine what the plate was."
"More interesting though, was the other ruin we found on that mesa. Or rather, the doorwas into the ruin that we found. Upon that mesa were six doors. Four of them were easily opened, but revealed nothing more than passageways and empty rooms. The fifth is one I'm hard pressed to call a door, but the rest of the men insisted it was so I played along. If it was a door, it was only a door for insects, rodents, and creatures that can squeeze through a hole five inches across."
Ager lifted his goblet from the table and walked to the window of the chamber, and looked out on the city as night came. Before him a city of many thousands of people were having dinner, doing business, telling stories; living their lives. There were few cities like it in Calda, fewer in the Steadfast.
"And of the sixth, my zaman kansa?" asked the Queen, joining Ager at the window?
Ager paused before answering, gathering his thoughts.
"Unfortunately, we were unable to open the sixth. It is a strange door. A number of hexoganal paving stones lay before it. The stones lead to a synth platform, about two feet high. Set into the platform is a great door of some unknown metal, marked with a great sigil with a material like mother of pearl."
"We were unable to determine how to open it. When we tried to use tools to burn through it, we activated defenses. We lost four men in the blink of an eye. We had no choice but to retreat from the platform. After we turned off our machines and retreated a handful of paces the defences deactivated. We left it for the day, but when we came back the next the defenses stayed quiet."
Ager finished the last of his wine, and returned the cup to the sidetable.
"We never figured out a way to open that door. We didn't lose anyone else, but that door stayed closed."
The Queen stayed at the window. Lit by the light of the rising moons, she struck an impressive figure. Her grey hair, in long dreadlocks threaded with gold thread, spilled from the top of her crown. The rest of her head hidden by the
Midnight Veil, only ever seen by her husband the Crown Prince. Her robes of white silk and gold thread, worked with the insignia of the royal family -- a
Grand Drake holding the Ebony Scepter and the
Crystal Sword. Unlike many of the nobles of both Calda and the Steadfast, none of her clothes were worked with protective numenera.
No energy shield, no poision sprays, no emergency teleport.
Ager knew from personal experience that the Queen beleived and embodied the phrase 'the best defense is a strong unstoppable offense'.
"Very well, Ager," said the Queen. For a moment, Ager swore he saw that same smile behind the veil as she turned towards him.
"Tell me what else you found in those lands, and of how my men died attempting to expand the boundary of my kingdom."
